I wrote a long essay about KZ's state but forgot the character limitation so I'll try to cram it in

They're struggling with consistency of their new shells

New nozzle kills treble because they're not keen cramming their tweeter BA in the nozzle itself

CCA CA16 did well but only because it had 3 30095 tweeters responsible for highs, ZAS only has one 30019 for the upper highs and expectedly suffers from lack of extension given the 30019 is speced only to 7.7 kHz

KZ managed to use 6 whole drivers for mids and still have it recessed. Wow. (3 50024s, pairs)

My suggestion for KZ if ever a rep is reading this: XUN DD is nice, just tone it down, stick a 30095 near the nozzle again

Wishlist setup: XUN DD, 2 pairs of 50024s just tune em, 1 30019, and one 30095 near the nozzle. Midrange peak in 2.5k not 2k like CCAs- I'd buy these for at least $100

Some notes though: I know CCA is only a sister company but let's be real they're basically the same anyways

XUN DD is great for the price, they really did well with DQ6 for me

New shell is really inconsistent across their models even with the thickness of the acrylic, I have the ASF and the ZS10 Pro, ASF feels a whole lot less sturdier and my left nozzle came off with my spinfits, hopefully the same quality issue isn't around the same shell designs anymore

Idk what's stopping KZ from their usual stuffing of a 30095 tweeter in the nozzle (or at least near it) again, hopefully they're just experimenting but the extension from recent models suffer, ASF, ASX, ZAS, even AST even though it's doing a bit better

Where can I purchase your designer IEMs

Detailed review, but I cannot fathom why such a cheap product gets so extensive bashing. Maybe it's because the editors are promoting a lot more expensive alternatives?

@Mark789 , "cheap" is such a variable term in the world of Chi-Fi. Due to the inherent value that Chi-Fi brings to the table and the saturated price bracket the ZAS lives in, I still do believe that it is nothing special.

Add in the existence of cheaper and better options, say for example, the KZ DQ6 or Moondrop SSP. Different setups (hybrid vs purely DD), I know, but those two are sonically better (and more pleasing tonality, subjectively speaking) for a lot less the cost of the KZ ZAS. Those two also have more premium shells compared to this one.

3 stars is not necessarily bad. It can be considered as average.

So you picking on KZ really really sad.

Dude, @dmac6419 , I highly recommend 2 of the 4 KZ products I've tried (DQ6 and AZ09). I'm not quite sure that suggests I'm picking on them.